A large percentage of the population wear eyeglasses. Some of these people must wear eyeglasses at all times while others only need to wear glasses occasionally. Among the latter group of people are those who wear eyeglasses as a fashionable accessory with certain clothing and people who wear special purpose eyeglasses such as sun glasses, reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals, etc.
People who wear glasses only occasionally frequently carry the glasses with them and in some instances people who must wear eyeglasses at all times carry an extra pair of eyeglasses.
A problem which sometimes confronts people that carry eyeglasses with them involves how to transport these glasses. If an individual wears a suit or sport coat the glasses may be carried in a pocket. If the individual carries a pocketbook the glasses may be transported therein. However, on those occasions where an individual does not wear some type of coat or carry a pocketbook their options for ways to carry glasses become limited. In most instances the individual will carry a case containing the eyeglasses in a pants or shirt pocket. Unfortunately, eyeglass cases are bulky, obtrusive and somewhat annoying to carry. Additionally if a person carries glasses in a pant's pocket they may be broken when the person sits down.
Some attempts have been made to provide auxiliary holders for eyeglasses which may be attached to an article of clothing. One example of an auxiliary eyeglass holder may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,384 to Arnold. In this holder a curved, metal body member is adapted to be affixed to a garment by a pin type of fastener. The curved body member defines a pair of closed loops at each end thereof. When the holder has been fastened to a user's garment the loops project laterally from the garment and are adapted to receive one temple of a pair of eyeglasses. One problem with such a device resides in the fact that the temple contained in the holder will be rigidly retained therein and if the user bends or makes a sudden movement the bridge of the glasses may pivot away from the temple which may allow the unrestrained temple also to pivot with respect to the bridge and lock into an open position. When this occurs the unrestrained temple wedges against the garment and causes the glasses to project laterally away from the body of the wearer. In this position the glasses may fall out of the holder entirely. Additionally, such an auxiliary holder further requires a user to put pin holes in his garment and subjects the garment to possible stains in the event the holder starts to rust.
An accessory carrier for use on garments which may accommodate eyeglasses may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,554 to Kallman. The Kallman device includes a flap adapted to be attached at one end to the shoulder of an outer garment such as a jacket and having a second end which pivots between a storage position in which the second end attaches to a first point on the jacket and the flap lies flat against the shoulder of the garment and an operative position in which the second end extends vertically around the accessory such as eyeglasses and attaches to a second point on the garment. In this manner the eyeglasses are attached to the shoulder of the garment and project laterally therefrom. The Kallman accessory holder appears to be adapted primarily for use on an article of outer clothing such as a ski jacket, a motorcycle jacket or a scuba diving jacket. The Kallman accessory holder would not be suitable for use on sports or dress shirts or on blouses because of the prominent position in which the eyeglasses project laterally from the body of the wearer and because of the relatively large size and obtrusive nature of the flap which makes it most suitable for use with large items such as goggles and less suitable for smaller items which as eyeglasses.
Ideally a garment would be provided with an unobtrusive integral device for transporting a pair of eyeglasses in such a manner that the glasses rest firmly against the body of the wearer, the temples remain folded and parallel to the bridge at all times and the device would be relative small and unobtrusive and suitable for use on dress and sports shirts and blouses.